Technicolor Croissants and More Glimpses Into the Future of Pastries
Lately bakeries seem less like pit stops—a place to grab a scone on the way to the office—and more like destinations. People are traveling across town to try the crazy matcha croissants that are taking over the internet, or the culty morning buns that’ll make you forget you decided to go gluten-free. So why should you hit up a new-school bakery right now? Keep reading.
We’ve Totally Taken the Insta Bait
If you ’gram it, they will come. At least that seems to be the philosophy behind the surge in ultraphotogenic sweets you’re seeing, from jet-black doughnuts to Technicolor croissants. Just because a rainbow bagel photographs well doesn’t mean we want to eat it, but when the sweets taste as good as they look (Exhibit A: The matcha-lemon croissant from NYC’s Supermoon Bakehouse, above), we don’t mind being superficial.
Architectural Digest Would Approve
When designing the patisserie arm of Austin’s hipster-Gallic Le Politique, designer Melanie Raines wanted to evoke spaces like L.A.’s Bottega Louie and Paris’ Ladurée, filtered through a casual downtown lens. This means white Carrara marble counters, powder-blue tiled floors, and the pièce de résistance: hand-screen-printed wallpaper from Portland, Oregon, design studio Makelike. (Which you can buy!) “This isn’t a very fancy patisserie where you don’t want to bring your children,” Raines says. “The vibrant wallpaper really plays to that.”
Sometimes They’re Not Brick-and-Mortar Bakeries at All
Levee Baking Co., New Orleans
Willa Jean alum Christina Balzebre specializes in laminated pastries (like morning buns scented with Meyer lemon) and decadent vegan cookies (ahem, salty-chocolate-olive-oil) at her pop-up out of a shared space with Cajun restaurant Mosquito Supper Club.
Third Culture Bakery, Berkeley, CA
The Bay Area’s baked good of the moment—the mochi muffin, a puffy, precious specimen containing rice flour, coconut, and pandan leaf—comes courtesy of this new wholesale venture, which sells to coffee shops throughout the area.
BK17 Bakery, Brooklyn
Good news! You don’t even have to leave the house to try Sarah Owens’ dark chocolate-bee pollen lace cookies and cocoa-tahini bites. Her mail-order subscription service ships cookies straight to your door.
The Pastry Archetypes
For all the creativity happening at bakeries right now, there are a few pastry archetypes we’ve spotted (and eaten!) over and over again. Not that we’re complaining—the world could certainly use more morning buns.
The Savory Pastry
Beets star in galettes at North Bakery in Providence, sea buckthorn sneaks into the muffins at Kantine in SF, and everything spice tops these doughy knots from The Bakery at Fat Rice in Chicago.
The Cruller
Cruller fever has taken hold in New York in particular, from the crazy popular glazed offerings at Daily Provisions to this corn powder–dusted, kaffir lime–infused specimen from Du’s Donuts.
The Morning Bun
If you’ve had a great morning bun in Philadelphia, it’s probably been this cardamom-pecan beauty, made by Machine Shop Boulangerie and sold at the city’s coolest coffee shops.
The Giant Cookie
The current cookie mantra: Bigger is better. Consider the huge strawberry lemonade cookie at Mañana in Austin or this oversize flourless chocolate one from Bellecour in Wayzata, MN.
Seylou Bakery, Washington, DC
They’re Ditching White Flour (and We Don’t Miss It)
At Seylou in Washington, D.C., the directives are clear: No white flour, no white sugar. Pastry chef Charbel Abrache, the brains behind the millet canelés, explains why it’s worth all the effort: “Once you understand the grain, you will end up with something remarkable. The flavor is amazing. When I smell millet, I smell vanilla—it reminds me of crème caramel. Sorghum is more earthy…it works well with spices and chocolate. Sometimes you need rum or bourbon to give flavor to pastries. But I don’t need that anymore—I have all the flavor I need from the grain. There’s no going back.”
Of Course They Care About the Ceramics
If you’re getting a cortado with your sumac-hibiscus-glazed cake, there’s a decent chance it’s going to come in a custom ceramic mug. Take Brooklyn’s Golda, which teamed up with Calyer Ceramics for the cup shown here, or Seattle’s Sea Wolf Bakers, whose Tesha Karpoff mug will make your croissant brittle taste that much better.
